R708 
B384 
1849 


Beck 

Address  to  the  graduates  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  New  York, 


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intljeCttpofBrwgork 

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ADDRESS 


TO    THE    GRADUATES 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS 


OF 


NEW-YORK, 


AT  THE  COMMENCEMENT,  HELD  MARCH  12,  1846. 


BY  JOHN  B.  BECK,  M.  D., 

Professor  of  Materia  Mediea  and  Medical  Jurisprudence. 


[COMMUNICATED   FOR   THE   NEW- YORK   JOURNAL   OF   MEDICINE.} 


NEW-YORK. 
HENRY  G.  LANGLEY,  3  ASTOR  HOUSE, 

(BARCLAY-STREET.) 

1849. 


<,  i~i<oi>*  £3?j6  o 


M-CCLI.E 


^S7>ec- 


>7>t 

/Ufa// 


■  ^J&fJ 


TTM.    OSBORN,    PRINTER,    COR.    SPRUCE    &   NASSAU-BTB. 


ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen,  Graduates, — The  occasion  on  which  we  meet  this  evening, 
is  one  of  deep  interest.  Having  completed  your  various  courses  of  study 
with  credit  to  yourselves,  and  as  your  reward,  having  received  the  highest 
honors  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  this  College  to  bestow,  you  are  now 
about  to  leave  us,  and  to  become  busy  actors  in  the  drama  of  human 
life.  Although  this  is  a  period  which  has  long  been  anticipated  and 
wished  for  by  you,  the  ties  which  bind  you  to  us  cannot  be  broken  with- 
out emotion,  and  as  you  look  forward,  you  find  your  bosoms  swelling 
with  mingled  feelings  of  hope  and  fear.  To  those  who  have  had  the 
care  of  your  instruction,  it  is  no  less  an  occasion  of  interest.  They  see 
issuing  from  these  halls  a  large  class  of  young  men,  associated  in  their 
minds  with  the  most  pleasing  recollections  of  intelligence,  industry  and 
good  conduct.  Influenced  as  your  minds  and  habits  have  necessarily 
been  by  their  instructions  and  example,  they  cannot  but  feel  a  deep  re- 
sponsibility in  your  welfare,  and  their  ardent  prayer  is,  that  your  future 
career  may  be  such  as  to  do  honor  to  yourselves  and  to  this  Institution. 
They  hope  to  hear  of  you  hereafter  as  successful  and  eminent  physicians, 
and  as  honored  men — elevating  and  improving  the  noble  profession  which 
you  have  chosen,  and  blessing  society  by  your  virtues. 

Deputed  by  my  colleagues  to  give  you  their  parting  counsel  and  ad- 
vice, I  feel  oppressed  with  the  crowd  of  ideas  that  flow  in  upon  my 
mind.  Like  the  anxious  parent  taking  leave  of  his  children,  I  feel  as  if  I 
should  like  to  touch  upon  every  thing  that  relates  to  your  future  life. 
This,  however,  may  not  be,  and  fortunately  is  not  necessary.  In  this 
institution  you  have  been  looked  upon,  not  merely  as  the  recipients  of 
professional  knowledge,  but  also  as  moral  agents,  destined  to  exert  a  wide 
influence,  either  for  good  or  evil,  on  those  around  you,  and  your  teachers 


bave  not  left  it  to  the  few  brief  moments  that  remain  to  us,  to  endeavor 
"to  infuse  into  your  minds  such  feelings  and  principles  as  they  trust,  un- 
der Providence,  may  conduct  you  through  life  with  honor  and  safety ;  and 
if  your  uniform  behavior  during  your  pupilage  can  give  any  just  ground 
of  hope,  they  do  not  doubt  that  their  most  sanguine  expectations  will  be 
realized.  My  duty,  therefore,  at  present  is  comparatively  limited,  and  I 
shall  content  myself  with  throwing  out  a  few  suggestions  of  a  general 
nature,  which  I  trust  may  be  useful  to  you.  And  first,  and  above  all, 
let  me  beseech  of  you,  not  to  consider,  because  you  have  gone  through 
the  round  of  study  prescribed  by  this  Institution,  nor  yet  because  you 
have  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine,  that  your  education  is 
now  completed.  If  you  do,  notwithstanding  all  the  time  and  labor  you 
have  expended,  you  had  better  at  once  abandon  the  profession  and  un- 
dertake some  different  occupation.  Valuable  as  lectures  are,  they  are, 
nevertheless,  to  be  looked  upon  by  the  student  simply  as  the  preliminary 
means  by  which  he  may  be  enabled  to  perfect  himself  afterwards  in  a 
knowledge  of  his  profession.  They  are  merely  the  guides  to  show  him 
how  he  is  to  pursue  the  never-ending  course  of  self-instruction  which  he 
ought  to  propose  to  himself.  The  instruction  of  others  never  can  make 
a  man  a  physician.  That  he  must  make  himself — and  to  do  it  requires 
a  kind  of  study  and  training  very  different  from  that  of  listening  to  the 
prelections  of  the  lecture-room.  When  you  leave,  therefore,  this  seat  of 
learning,  consider  that  you  are  merely  changing  the  mode  of  your  studies, 
and  that  you  are  now  beginning  a  new  and  higher  course  of  instruction.  If 
you  are  deeply  imbued  with  this  feeling,  every  case  that  may  present 
itself  when  you  get  into  practice,  will  afford  you  ample  scope  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  all  your  faculties.  The  practice  of  medicine  is  not  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  routine.  The  same  disease  occurring  in  different  individuals  is 
modified  by  a  thousand  different  circumstances.  The  age,  sex,  habits  of 
life,  season  of  the  year,  climate,  all  exercise  a  controlling  influence  over 
its  character,  and  accordingly  demand  a  modification  of  the  treatment. 
Every  case,  therefore,  should  be  studied  by  itself,  and  should  be  made 
the  subject  of  profound  thought  and  investigation.  If  you  pursue  this 
course,  you  will  find  not  merely  that  the  practice  of  your  profession  is 
one  that  requires  incessant  study,  but  that  it  is  one  of  surpassing  inte- 
rest. 

With  regard  to  the  modes  of  conducting  your  studies,  so  as  to  yield 
you  the  greatest  amount  of  profit,  let  me  suggest  to  you,  in  the  first 
place,  to  lay  it  down  as  an  invariable  rule,  that  when  you  undertake  the 
study  of  a  subject,  to  do  it  thoroughly ;  and  in  doing  this,  I  do  not  mean 
that  you  should  merely  acquire  a  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  connected 
with  it,  but  that  you  should  investigate  as  far  as  possible  the  general 
principles  nmning  through  these  facts.  There  is  nothing  so  destructive 
of  the  tone  and  vigor  of  a  man's  intellect,  or  so  detrimental  to  his  ad- 
vancement in  knowledge,  as  to  rest  satisfied  with  vague  and  superficial 
notions.  When  he  comes  to  turn  his  supposed  knowledge  to  practical 
account,  every  thing  will  be  hazy  and  misty  before  him,  and  his  action 
will  be  uncertain  and  inefficient.  Endeavor,  then,  to  acquire  the  habit  of 
hanging  onto  a  subject  until  you  obtain  clear  and  precise  ideas  in  rela- 
tion to  it.  Once  acquired,  you  will  find  it  of  incalculable  value.  The 
very  process  of  acquiring  it  will  invigorate  your  understandings,   and 


instead  of  retarding,  as  might  be  supposed,  will  accelerate  with  tenfold 
rapidity  your  subsequent  acquisitions.  Recollect  that  all  knowledge  is 
more  or  less  connected,  and  the  thorough  mastery  of  one  subject,  with  its 
facts  and  principles,  will  really  aid  you  more  in  your  progress  than  a 
vague  and  shadowy  acquaintance  with  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences.* 
In  the  second  place  let  me  advise  you  now  to  begin  a  systematic  course 
of  reading  in  relation  to  yoiu  profession.  In  the  course  of  his  studies, 
and  especially  during  his  attendance  upon  the  lectures,  the  student  has 
little  leisure  for  doing  any  thing  more  than  to  run  over  the  ordinary  text- 
books on  the  various  branches  to  which  his  attention  may  be  called. 
Useful  as  this  class  of  books  unquestionably  is,  there  is  another  which  is 
still  more  valuable.  I  mean  those  standard  works  on  particular  subjects, 
which  embody  the  results  of  years  of  the  thought  and  labor  and  expe- 
rience of  the  ablest  men,  who  have  adorned  our  profession.  In  these, 
you  will  find  subjects  discussed  in  a  very  different  way,  from  what  they 
are  in  the  popular  text-books  of  the  day.  It  is  these,  therefore,  that  you 
ought  now  to  begin  to  read,  and  among  others  I  would  refer  especially 
to  the  writings  of  Hippocrates,  Boerhaave,  Sydenham,  Huxham,  Sir 
John  Pringle,  Hillary,  Moseley,  Sir  Gilbert  Blane,  Cleghom,  John  Hun- 
ter, Rush,  and  the  thousand  valuable  monographs  with  which  our  pro- 
fessional literature  abounds.  In  alluding  to  Hippocrates,  I  would  re- 
mark, that  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  many  of  you  will  be  able  to 
peruse  him  in  the  original  language  in  which  he  wrote.  Of  many  of  his 
more  important  works,  however,  you  will  find  good  translations,  and 
these  I  would  recommend  to  you.  While  on  this  subject,  I  cannot  suf- 
fer this  opportunity  to  pass  without  calling  your  attention  to  a  work 
which  is  in  progress,  and  which  I  trust  will  shortly  make  its  appearance, 
and  that  is  a  condensed,  yet  full  abstract  of  the  writings  of  the  father  of 
Physic.  This  work  is  undertaken  by  our  learned  countryman,  Prof.  John 
Redman  Coxe,  of  Philadelphia.  Should  the  task  be  executed,  as  from 
the  ability  of  the  person  engaged  in  it,  I  anticipate  it  will  be,  I  know 
of  no  learned  labor  that  will  reflect  more  credit  upon  the  author  or 
upon  the  professional  literature  of  his  country,  and  at  the  same  time 
confer  a  more  lasting  benefit  upon  his  professional  brethren.  Should  the 
work  be  patronized  as  it  ought  to  be,  it  will  furnish  a  good  omen  of  the 
future  progress  of  medicine  in  this  country.f 


*  It  is  related  of  one  of  the  ornaments  of  the  English  bar,  Sir  Edward  Sugden,  that 
he  attributed  his  great  success  in  professional  life,  to  the  cultivation  of  this  habit.  Sir 
T.  F.  Buxton  states,  in  his  memoirs,  that  he  once  ventured  to  ask  him  what  was  the 
secjet  of  his  success.  To  which  he  replied,  "  I  resolved,  when  beginning  to  read  law, 
to  make  every  thing  I  acquired  perfectly  my  own,  and  never  to  go  to  a  second  thing  till 
I  had  entirely  accomplished  the  first.  Many  of  my  competitors  read  as  much  in  a  day 
as  I  read  in  a  week  ;  but  at  the  end  of  twelve  months  my  knowledge  was  as  fresh  as 
on  the  day  it  was  acquired,  while  theirs  had  glided  away  from  their  recollection." 

t  Since  the  delivery  of  this  address,  the  work  of  Prof.  Coxe  has  made  its  appear- 
ance, under  the  title  of  "  The  Writings  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  Epitomized 
from  the  Original  Latin  Translations,"  in  an  8vo.  volume  of  681  pages,  and  comes 
up  to  all  that  was  anticipated.  I  have  only  to  unite  with  the  venerable  and  learned 
author,  in  the  wish  expressed  at  the  close  of  his  work,  "that  it  may  awaken  an  inte- 
rest in  favor  of  our  great  predecessors,  and  eventually  lead  to  a  full  and  complete 
translation  of  their  works." 

1* 


In  perusing  the  authors  I  have  mentioned,  do  not,  gentlemen,  hurry 
over  them.  Make  them  the  subject  of  meditation  and  criticism,  and 
whenever  you  meet  with  a  striking  or  important  fact,  or  a  new  and  in- 
genious train  of  reasoning,  make  a  memorandum  of  them  in  a  common- 
place book,  for  the  purpose  of  subsequent  reflection  and  investigation. 
By  steadily  following  up  this  plan,  only  for  a  short  time,  you  will  be 
astonished  at  the  treasures  of  knowledge  which  you  will  accumulate ; 
the  new  ideas  which  will  start  up  in  your  minds,  as  well  as  the  confi- 
dence which  it  will  give  to  all  your  mental  operations. 

In  the  third  place,  let  me  recommend  you  to  practise  the  art  of 
writing.  Every  physician,  whether  he  be  ambitious  of  the  honors  of 
authorship  or  not,  must  now  and  then,  at  least,  put  his  ideas  upon 
paper  for  the  purpose  of  being  communicated  to  others.  If  he  do 
this  at  all,  he  ought  certainly  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  dis- 
grace either  himself  or  the  profession.  Now,  it  is  with  writing  as  with 
every  thing  else.  No  man  can  do  it  well  unless  he  make  it  a  habit, 
and  every  student  should,  therefore,  be  in  the  daily  practice  of  put- 
ting his  thoughts  upon  paper.  In  a  very  short  time  this  will  impart 
an  ease  and  facility  which  will  render  writing  a  pleasure  rather  than 
a  labor.  With  regard  to  the  style  which  you  ought  to  cultivate,  there 
are  three  things  which  I  would  more  especially  urge  upon  your  no- 
tice &s  eminently  essential.  1.  Perfect  simplicity.  By  this  I  mean  the 
avoidance  of  pedantry,  bombast,  and  all  attempts  at  fine  writing.  These 
are  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  science,  and  are  as  opposed  to  a 
correct  style  as  elegance  and  grace  are  congenial  to  it.  2.  Perfect  in- 
telligibility. This  is  a  cardinal  feature  in  a  good  style,  without  which,  in 
the  present  day  at  least,  a  book  will  not  be  read.  The  press  is  too  prolific 
of  books  which  can  be  easily  understood,  to  expect  the  reader  to  stop 
and  spell  out  his  way  to  the  meaning  of  an  author.  Some  men,  I 
am  aware,  plume  themselves  not  a  little  upon  the  obscurity  of  their 
style,  and  flatter  themselves  that  it  is  an  evidence  of  their  profundity. 
Do  not,  gentlemen,  envy  or  emulate  such  profundity.  You  will  gene- 
rally find  it  slumbering  away  its  existence  in  the  dusky  garret  of  the 
printing  shop,  or,  perchance,  making  its  way  into  daylight  through  the 
kind  offices  of  the  trunk-maker.  31  Perfect  integrity.  By  this  I  mean 
a  true  style,  in  other  words,  that  a  style  should  be  such  as  not  to  convey 
a  double,  or  an  exaggerated  or  a  lessened  idea — but  that  it  should  con- 
vey "  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth."  The  im- 
portance of  this  feature  in  the  style  of  a  medical  writer,  must  be  self- 
evident.  An  erroneous  idea  conveyed  in  a  medical  work,  either  from  de- 
sign or  inattention,  may  prove  the  source  of  incalculable  mischief.  I  am 
the  more  desirous  of  calling  your  attention  to  this  point,  because  the  vio- 
lations of  it  are,  I  fear,  too  frequent.  Men  even  of  upright  intentions 
and  with  an  honest  desire  after  truth,  not  unfrequently  give  such  a  co- 
loring to  their  statements  as  convey  impressions  very  wide  of  what  was, 
perhaps,  intended,  and  certainly  very  wide  of  the  truth.  Let  precision 
of  thought  and  precision  of  language,  then,  characterize  every  thing  that 
you  write,  and  let  the  whole  be  conveyed  in  a  style  simple  and  intelli- 
gible. 

In  what  I  have  thus  far  suggested  to  you,  gentlemen,  I  have  looked 
upon  you  merely  as  students  of  your  profession,  and  I  trust  no  period  of 


your  lives  will  ever  arrive  when  you  shall  divest  yourselves  of  that  cha- 
racter. 

But  you  are  also  to  be  practitioners  of  medicine,  and  as  such  your  ambi- 
tion of  course  ought  to  be  to  render  yourselves  distinguished  and  useful. 
To  enable  you  to  become  so,  permit  me  to  make  one  or  two  suggestions. 

In  the  first  place,  cultivate  the  faculty  of  observation.  By  many,  it  is  sup- 
posed, that  this  is  the  exclusive  gift  of  nature  and  not  improvable  by  art. 
Differing  as  men  do  undoubtedly  in  their  powers  in  this  respect,  there 
still  can  be  no  question,  that  much  may  be  done  to  improve  them,  by 
appropriate  discipline  and  cultivation.  To  dwell  upon  the  particular 
means  by  which  this  is  to  be  accomplished  would  occupy  too  much 
time  on  the  present  occasion.  I  cannot,  however,  refrain  from  suggest- 
ing, that  it  is  not  to  be  done  as  a  matter  of  course,  merely  by  the  multi- 
plicity of  the  subjects  for  observation  which  may  be  presented  to  you. 
This  is,  indeed,  the  common  opinion,  and  the  public  suffrage  is  accord- 
ingly too  apt  to  be  given  in  favor  of  those  whose  opportunities  are  the 
most  extensive.  The  physician,  therefore,  who  sees  the  greatest  number  of 
patients,  is  generally  supposed  to  have  observed  the  most,  and  to  be  the 
most  experienced.  Nevertheless,  this  is  frequently  a  great  error,  proved 
by  every  day's  experience.  To  have  the  opportunity  of  observing,  is  one 
thing ;  to  observe,  is  another  ;  and  the  observation  of  one  case,  correctly 
and  thoroughly  made,  yields  a  richer  harvest  of  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience than  do  years  of  ordinary  practice  by  an  unobserving  practitioner ; 
and  the  history  of  one  disease,  or  of  the  effects  of  a  single  remedy,  given 
by  the  hand  of  a  master,  confers  more  lasting  and  real  benefit  upon  the 
science  and  the  world  than  ages  of  the  experience  of  ordinary  men.  In 
fact,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  seeing  too  much  ;  and  the  rapidity  and  even 
hurry  consequent  on  the  attendance  upon  a  great  number  of  cases,  is 
utterly  fatal  to  that  close  and  detailed  investigation,  without  which  ob- 
servation is  of  no  sort  of  value.  Instead  of  following  nature  and  explo- 
ring the  peculiarities  characterizing  individual  cases,  every  thing  is  viewed 
in  the  wholesale  way,  and  remedies  are  prescribed  accordingly.  Now,  it 
is  very  evident  that  such  practice,  however  extensive,  can  never  make  an 
enlightened  physician.  In  fact,  the  more  he  sees  in  this  way,  the  less 
likely  is  he  to  become  so.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Hippocrates  prac- 
tised only  in  small  towns,  not  one  of  which,  it  is  affirmed,  was  of  itself 
able  to  support  a  physician.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  mere  amount  of 
cases,  or  the  extent  of  his  opportunities  ;  it  is  the  capacity  of  observing 
and  the  power  of  extracting  from  each  case  every  thing  that  is  valuable, 
that  forms  the  great  physician.  To  the  young  practitioner  just  com- 
mencing his  career,  I  do  not  know  anything  so  truly  encouraging,  as  the 
consideration  of  this  very  circumstance.  During  the  first  few  years  of 
his  professional  life,  instead  of  repining  at  his  want  of  business,  he  should 
recollect  that  this  is  a  wise  allotment,  intended  for  his  ultimate  benefit. 
If  he  rightly  improve  the  leisure  he  then  enjoys,  he  has  it  in  his  power 
to  make  himself  all  that  his  highest  ambition  can  crave. 

But,  gentlemen,  you  will  find  the  observation  of  facts  of  comparatively 
little  value,  unless  you  possess  the  power  of  reasoning  correctly  upon 
them,  and  the  culture  of  this  faculty  should  be  another  object  of  your 
ambition.  When  I  speak  of  the  power  of  reasoning,  I  do  not  mean  the- 
ability  to  speculate  or  frame  theories,  but  I  mean  the  power  which  shall 


8 

enable  a  man  to  compare  individual  facts,  and  draw  from  them  just  and 
legitimate  conclusions.  Important  as  observation  is,  it  is  chiefly  so  as 
forming  the  basis  of  reasoning ;  and  its  being  so,  is  the  main  reason  why 
accurate  observation  is  so  invaluable.  The  necessity  and  importance  of 
cultivating  this  faculty  by  the  young  practitioner,  is  self-evident.  The 
whole  of  practical  medicine  is,  or  ought  to  be,  an  exercise  of  this  faculty, 
and  other  things  being  equal,  just  in  proportion  as  a  physician  is  gifted 
with  this  talent  will  he  become  preeminent.  As  I  have  already  stated, 
the  practice  of  medicine  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  routine.  No  two  cases 
are  exactly  alike,  and  the  same  disease  occurring  in  different  individuals, 
presents  itself  under  different  forms  and  modifications,  and  in  the  just 
appreciation  of  these  differences  and  modifications,  and  in  the  nice  adap- 
tation and  adjustment  of  remedies  to  them,  a  constant  exercise  of  the 
reasoning  powers  is  called  for.  It  is  not,  however,  in  ordinary  practice 
that  the  necessity  of  the  reasoning  faculty  appears  most  striking.  To  the 
enlightened  physician,  questions  of  grave  import  are  continually  present- 
ing themselves,  upon  which  he  is  required  to  give  an  opinion,  and  which, 
to  be  of  any  sort  of  value,  must  be  the  result  of  more  or  less  elaborate 
trains  of  thought  and  reasoning.  Questions  in  medical  jurisprudence, 
for  example,  are  only  to  be  determined  in  this  way.  In  cases  of  this 
kind,  mere  science,  however  profound,  mere  learning,  however  extensive, 
are  not  sufficient.  It  requires  the  exercise  and  application  of  a  severe 
logic  to  arrive  at  just  conclusions.  By  the  absence  of  this,  amid  all  the 
parade  of  learning,  juries  have  been  misled ;  life  and  character  have  been 
jeopardized  ;  justice  has  been  evaded,  and  the  professional  witness  dis- 
graced. Questions  relating  to  the  spread  of  epidemic  diseases  furnish 
another  example.  Whether  yellow  fever,  for  instance,  is  a  contagious 
or  a  non-contagious  disease ;  whether  it  is  imported  from  other  parts  of 
the  globe,  or  is  of  domestic  origin,  are  problems  of  great  interest,  espe- 
cially in  all  our  commercial  seaports,  and  have  for  a  great  length  of  time 
continued  to  agitate  and  distract  the  public  mind.  These  every  medical 
man  who  lays  the  least  claim  to  intelligence  ought  to  have  investigated, 
and  should  have  come  to  some  decision  in  relation  to  them.  And  yet 
how  can  he  do  so  intelligently  and  satisfactorily,  unless  he  has  cultivated 
the  power  of  reasoning,  or  in  other  words,  the  power  of  comparing  the 
general  mass  of  facts  which  the  subject  presents  and  of  drawing  legiti- 
mate inductions  from  them.  Had  this  power  been  possessed,  even  in  a 
moderate  degree,  by  many  of  those  who  have  talked  the  most  loudly 
and  written  the  most  boastingly  on  this  subject,  how  much  empty  asser- 
tion, how  much  bloated  dogmatism,  how  much  noisy  absurdity  would 
not  the  world  have  been  spared.  Had  their  minds  been  better  disciplined, 
instead  of  appealing  to  the  fears  and  prejudices  of  the  public,  always  alive 
on  such  subjects,  they  would  have  rested  it  on  the  sure  ground  of  fact 
and  judgment.  Instead  of  attempting  to  decide  it  by  names  and  authori- 
ty, it  would  have  been  subjected  to  the  test  of  reason  alone. 

There  is  only  one  other  incentive  which  I  shall  offer  to  show  the  ne- 
cessity of  cultivating  the  power  of  close  and  accurate  reasoning,  and  this 
is  the  incessant  tendency  which  there  seems  to  be  in  our  profession  to 
indulge  in  theories  and  hypotheses.  From  the  remotest  periods  down 
to  the  present  day,  this  has  been  the  current  vice  of  physicians.  Why 
this  has  been  the  case,  is  a  subject  of  interesting  inquiry,  and  would  lead 


9 

to  many  important  views  of  our  science.  This,  however,  is  foreign  from 
my  present  purpose.  If  these  theories  had  been  confined  to  subjects  of 
abstract  speculation  alone,  their  consequences  would  have  been  as  harm- 
less as  their  textures  were  frail.  Unfortunately,  however,  they  have 
formed  the  basis  of  modes  of  practice,  under  the  operation  of  which 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  human  beings  have  been  hurried  into  pre- 
mature graves.  Now,  how  is  any  correct  judgment  to  be  formed  con- 
cerning the  respective  merits  of  these  theories  and  practices  except  by 
an  observing,  thinking  and  reasoning  mind,  which  shall  be  able  to  ana- 
lyze the  principles  upon  which  they  are  founded  as  well  as  to  detect  the 
fallacies  by  which  they  are  supported. 

Again,  gentlemen,  if  you  hope  to  succeed  as  good  practitioners,  culti- 
vate a  generous  love  of  your  profession.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  love 
of  an  occupation  which  yields  a  man  great  pecuniary  rewards,  nor  yet 
that  love  of  it  which  arises  simply  from  habit  or  long-accustomed  use.  To 
inspire  either  of  these  requires  neither  learning,  nor  talent,  nor  generous 
feeling.  I  mean  something  nobler  than  this.  I  mean  that  love  of  your 
profession  which  shall  induce  you  to  devote  all  your  faculties  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  it,  and  which  shall  inspire  you  with  the  lofty  ambition  of  sig- 
nalizing yourselves  in  it,  by  improving  the  science  and  benefitting  mankind. 
JS"ow  the  onlv  way  to  do  this,  is  to  consider  your  profession  as  a  learned 
one.  Without  learning,  no  just  conception  can  be  formed  even  of  the 
nature  of  medicine  as  a  science,  while  the  connection  between  principles 
and  the  application  of  them  can  never  be  appreciated.  Hence,  without 
this,  it  must  be  practised  as  a  mere  art  or  trade,  and  the  interest  taken  in  it 
can  be  nothing  more  than  that  taken  in  any  ordinary  occupation  or  labor. 
More  than  this,  in  the  practice  of  medicine  there  are  so  many  things  posi- 
tively disgusting  ;  there  is  so  much  of  actual  suffering  to  be  witnessed ; 
so  much  of  frailty  and  rice  to  become  privy  to  ;  so  much  of  caprice  and 
even  insidt  to  be  encountered ;  and,  besides  this,  so  many  humiliating  offices 
to  be  submitted  to,  that  were  this  all,  no  man  of  generous  mind  would  be 
found  in  the  ranks  of  the  profession.  Viewed,  however,  with  the  eye  of 
philosophv,  and  with  the  cultivation  which  learning  engenders,  all  these 
disadvantages  are  as  nothing.  It  is  found  to  be  a  noble  science,  inVOlV- 
ing  subjects  of  the  highest  interest,  and  the  most  momentous  import. 
Every  practical  detail  is  found  associated  with  some  interesting  fact  in  rela- 
tion to  the  animal  economy,  or  with  some  important  principle  in  the  manage- 
ment of  disease.  The  humblest  offices  rise  into  consequence,  and  every- 
thing is  teeming  with  interest  and  instruction.  Every  fact,  however 
trivial  or  apparently  unimportant,  calls  into  exercise  the  power  of  obser- 
vation, and  in  its  wide  spread  relations  to  other  facts,  supplies  incessant 
materials  for  all  the  powers  of  thought  and  reason.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
glow  of  enthusiasm  is  enkindled,  without  which  genius  is  cold  and  science 
barren.  In  this  way  it  is,  that  learning  creates  a  love  of  the  profession, 
which  can  be  acquired  in  no  other  way ;  and  in  no  profession  is  such 
enthusiasm  so  essential,  as  that  of  medicine.  A  science,  boundless  in  its 
extent ;  and  in  many  respects  most  abstruse  in  its  nature ;  built  upon 
long-continued  and  repeated  observation ;  requiring  aids  and  helps  fre- 
quently most  difficult  of  attainment ;  nothing  can  be  accomplished  with- 
out zeal  and  devotion,  and  with  these,  it  is  truly  astonishing  what  may 
be  done.     Inspired  with  these,  even  ordinary  intellects  have  performed 


10 

prodigies  and  left  behind  them  imperishable  monuments  of  labor.  To 
the  young  practitioner  of  medicine  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  how 
absolutely  essential  it  is  that  he  should  cultivate  such  a  love  of  his  pro- 
fession. If  in  the  uncorrupted  period  of  his  existence  he  do  not  acquire 
it,  it  is  in  vain  to  hope  for  its  attainment  in  after  life.  As  he  advances  in 
years,  other  feelings  and  passions  gain  the  ascendancy,  and  he  will  find, 
perhaps  before  he  is  aware  of  it,  that  he  is  pursuing  his  profession  with 
no  higher  motive  than  that  of  gaining  consequence  in  society,  or,  of 
amassing  a  fortune.  From  such  a  man,  science  has  nothing  to  hope, 
and  he  gives  to  the  world  and  to  his  profession  nothing  but  the  influ- 
ence of  a  barren  and  bad  example. 

But,  gentlemen,  I  must  bring  these  desultory  observations  to  a  close. 
Before  I  do  so,  however,  let  me  urge  upon  you,  amid  all  your  acquisi- 
tions— amid  all  the  honors  and  success,  which  I  trust  may  flow  in  profu- 
sion upon  you,  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  humility  and  modesty.  Recollect 
that  this  is  the  gem,  which  shines  the  brightest  in  the  crown  of 
the  greatest  men  that  ever  adorned  our  nature.  Look  at  Newton! 
Although  by  his  wonderful  intellect  he  towered  so  immeasurably  above 
the  rest  of  mankind,  yet  his  unaffected  modesty  raised  him  still  high- 
er in  the  scale  of  excellence.  And  what  think  you  was  the  reason  ? 
Why,  his  eagle  glance  had  pried  into  so  many  of  the  mysteries  of  nature  ; 
he  ha.d  ascended  Pisgah,  and  had  seen  so  many  of  the  wonders  of  creative 
power  before  him,  that  he  was  humbled  with  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
weakness  and  ignorance,  and  bowed  with  a  lowly  spirit  before  the  great 
and  incomprehensible  Creator  of  all  things. *  And  so  it  ought  to  be, 
and  will  be  with  every  right-minded  man.  The  farther  he  advances  in 
the  path  of  knowledge,  the  less  will  he  think  of  his  acquisitions,  and  the 
more  deeply  will  he  feel  how  narrow  and  feeble  his  powers  are,  and  how 
little,  very  little,  even  of  the  sciences  well  understood,  he  can  hope  to 
compass.  I  am  the  more  anxious,  gentlemen,  to  urge  upon  you  the  cul- 
tivation of  such  a  spirit  as  this,  because  I  am  convinced  it  is  the  offspring, 
as  well  as  the  ornament,  of  true  knowledge.  If  you  possess  this  spirit, 
you  will  not  arrogantly  set  yourselves  up  to  decide  upon  questions  be- 
yond your  comprehension.  Above  all,  you  will  never  suffer  the  preten- 
sions of  science  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  Almighty.  With  regard  to 
the  Bible  you  will  reason  thus — Here  is  a  book  which  professes  to  be 
written  under  the  inspiration  of  Heaven.  If  it  be  so,  (and  of  this  the 
evidence  is  overwhelming,)  every  word  of  it  must  be  true  ;  it  cannot  be 
otherwise — and  you  will  give  to  it  your  entire  and  unqualified  belief.  And 
you  will  not  permit  any  apparent  discrepancies  between  it  and  the  pre- 
tended discoveries  of  modern  science,  to  shake  your  belief.     In  the  spirit 


*  A  short  time  before  his  death,  it  is  stated  that  he  uttered  this  memorable  senti- 
ment : — "  I  do  not  know  what  I  may  appear  to  the  world  ;  but  to  myself  I  seem  to 
have  been  only  like  a  boy  playing  on  the  sea-shore,  and  diverting  myself  in  now  and 
then  finding  a  smoother  pebble  or  a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary,  while  the  great  ocean 
of  truth  lay  all  undiscovered  before  me." — The  Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  By  David 
Brewster,  LL.  D.,  F.R.S.,  p.  301. 

Of  Socrates,  it  is  said,  that  he  declared  that  he  knew  no  reason  why  the  oracle 
of  Delphos  pronounced  him  the  wisest  of  men,  except  it  was  that,  being  conscious  of 
his  ignorance,  he  was  willing  to  confess  that  he  knew  nothing. 


11 

of  true  philosophy,  as  well  as  of  true  religion,  you  will  confess  that  sci- 
ence is  still  in  its  infancy  ;  that  man's  powers  are  at  best  feeble  and  limited, 
and  that  it  would  be  profanity,  as  well  as  folly,  to  set  up  these  against 
what  you  believe  to  come  directly  from  the  Almighty.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  such  a  spirit  as  this,  too,  gentlemen,  I  conceive  you  will  best  be 
enabled  to  perform  all  your  relative  duties.  To  your  professional  breth- 
ren, you  will  extend  all  the  offices  of  courtesy  and  good  feeling.  To 
your  patients,  you  will  devote  all  your  best  energies.  You  will  look  upon 
them  not  merely  as  the  subjects  of  scientific  and  professional  interest, 
but  you  will  sympathize  with  them  as  partakers  of  the  same  common  na- 
ture, and  destined  to  the  same  end  as  yourselves.  While  to  the  public, 
you  will  set  a  bright  example  of  blended  science  and  virtue. 

Before  I  close,  let  me  throw  out  one  word  of  encouragement,  in  relation 
to  your  future  prospects.  There  is  nothing  so  common  for  young  men  just 
entering  upon  life,  and  especially  those  of  enthusiastic  minds,  as  to  call 
up  to  their  fancies,  the  numerous  difficulties  and  discouragements  which 
are  to  obstruct  their  career.  They  look  around  them  and  see  the  whole 
world  in  action.  Every  post  of  honor  and  of  emolument  is  already  occu- 
pied. Every  avenue  to  fame  and  fortune  is  already  crowded  with  aspiring 
candidates.  They  turn  with  disgust  from  the  scene — they  despond,  and 
they  begin  to  imagine  that  success  is  impossible.  Now,  all  this  is 
founded  on  mistaken  and  imperfect  views  of  human  life.  A  few  brief 
years  will  level  all  these  distinctions.  As  you  advance,  you  will 
find  all  the  busy  actors  who  now  so  greatly  fill  your  imaginations  and 
excite  your  fears,  sinking,  one  by  one,  and  leaving  vacant  more  than 
enough  to  gratify  your  largest  ambition.  Let  not,  then,  these  conside- 
rations discourage  you.  Before  you  are  aware  of  it,  opportunities  of 
distinction  will  present  themselves,  and  the  only  question  then  will  be, 
are  you  prepared  to  seize  the  proffered  honor.  The  early  part  of  your 
lives  is  the  one,  as  a  general  rule,  the  best  fitted  for  study  and  exer- 
tion, and  if  you  loiter  away  that  precious  period  in  idle  and  vain  fore- 
bodings, or  what  is  worse,  squander  it  in  indolence  or  dissipation,  you 
will  find  honor  after  honor  eluding  your  feeble  grasp — fortune  will 
spurn  you,  and  place  the  crown  on  other  and  worthier  brows.  Begin 
life,  then,  with  a  manly  courage.  Cast  behind  you  that  cold-blooded 
philosophy  which  would  teach  you  that  you  are  not  to  expect  success. 
Recollect  that  it  is  a  law  of  the  Almighty  himself,  verified  by  the  whole 
experience  of  mankind,  that  honest  endeavor,  with  an  humble  reliance 
on  Providence,  will  sooner  or  later  meet  with  its  reward,  and  you  need 
not  fear  that  you  will  be  made  exceptions  to  the  general  rule.  It  only 
remains  for  me  now  to  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell. 


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